Stamping Out Greed

 Eliminating GREED sounds like an honorable and worthy crusade to many Americans and to many foreigners who have experienced the GREED of Americans...

However, it is a losing battle.

We must look at GREED from several different angles in order to have enough information to make an intelligent decision.

• First, we have corporate greed
• Second, we have individual greed
• Third, we have political greed
• Fourth, we have economic greed     

Economic greed is absolutely necessary in order to have a growing economy.  Without economic greed our economy would remain stagnant, and while that would keep prices low, it would not offer much of a future.

Political Greed is not necessary and happens when politicians are more concerned about their financial wealth than they are about passing laws for Americans and their future.  It revolves around re-election, buying stock with insider information, and accepting unreported gifts from Lobbyists and donors.

Individual Greed takes place when individuals use their earning potential to invest in other ventures that generate additional wealth.  Individual wealth is good because these individuals are the one that primarily keep non-profits alive with their donations.  However, the downside is that these people NEVE pay their fair share of taxes since most of their wealth is sheltered in offshore bank accounts.

Corporate Greed is what many people consider to be the most insidious because Corporations have decided that they want to make this huge profit while giving bonuses to management and offering minimal wage increases to labor.  Corporate Greed has caused UNIONS to form to protect employees.  

A case could be made that Corporate Greed while somewhat appropriate should not be as high as they want it to be.  There are pros and cons on both sides of that argument.

Large profits create several opportunities:

1.  Companies can invest in Research and Development.

2.  Companies can invest in opening new markets.

3. Companies can pay dividends to stockholders that finance their operations.

NOTE:  Without these three opportunities, there would be no need for a company to grow and no need for a company to expand and hire more employees.

So, the questions are:  

• How much of a profit do you think is reasonable for companies to make?
• Should companies stop giving management bonuses?
• Should individuals not be allowed to shelter their money from taxes in offshore back accounts?
• How much of a wage increase can a company offer before it has to start increasing prices?